Ever since 2011, Syrian President Bashar Assad has been butchering his own people. The mass slaughter is aimed solely at maintaining Alawite rule in Syria.
Under the patronage of Russia, which has proven knowledge in the field of deadly chemistry, and with the support of Iran, which is sinking its talons into the Middle East, Assad has allowed himself to use chemical weapons against helpless civilians, including children. These atrocities are carried out over and over, and yet the world is indifferent.
There is nothing more dangerous than indifference to the mass killing of innocent people. Indifference always benefits the aggressor and harms the victim. We Jews remember how the entire world stood aside, indifferent to the mass murders of our brothers and sisters in the gas chambers. This Thursday, when Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, we will remind the entire world of the terrible price of its apathy toward what is transpiring in Syria.
Hypocrisy is apathy's main partner. Atrocities are being committed across the Middle East, but the "enlightened" world condemns the State of Israel when it defends its sovereignty and its borders. We can now add the International Criminal Court at The Hague to this festival of hypocrisy, with its demand that an investigation be opened into the IDF's actions to defend Israel from terrorists who use innocent people as human shields.
Israel is an island of sanity in an ocean of brutality. There is nothing new in this. For thousands of years, the Jews have paid the price for a cruel and indifferent world's malice, madness and cynicism. I had hoped to hear condemnation of the massacre in Syria from members of Israel's Joint Arab List, but I was disappointed. They are too busy glorifying the "martyrs" in the Gaza Strip who dig the terror tunnels and stockpile weapons to be used against Israel.
Throughout the entirety of Western civilization, there is no strong, determined leadership willing to confront the forces of darkness that seek to destroy progress and enlightenment. The administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama will go down in history as having turned a superpower into a minor figure in the global arena. An entire nation that once believed in itself was conquered by empty liberal rhetoric. Obama issued an ultimatum to Assad on the use of chemical weapons. He knew about the repeated violations, and yet did not treat them seriously.
It will take time for President Donald Trump to return the United States to its former glory, not a simple task in a country where for years, the media has brainwashed citizens and propagated defeatist and lazy attitudes.
As for Israel, agreements signed by tyrannical despots are clearly of no significance. This is the case with Syria as well as with the failed nuclear agreements signed with Iran. Israel must be ready to defend itself with the full force of its military. The international community will not be there for us at the moment of truth. We must strengthen the Israel Defense Forces and prepare for every possible scenario. We must be strong and determined. If we show weakness, we will not be at all.
